Bullied transgender student slapped with battery charges

School district officials are meeting to address a fight at Hercules High School last week that involved a transgender student, a West Contra Costa Unified School District board member said.

"She spit gum in her hand and it was full of saliva and threw it in my face," said transgender student Jewyles Gutierrez.

Gutierrez says she should charge the student who bullied her with battery, but instead that student is pressing misdemeanor battery charges against her.

"That's why I'm so confused why this is happening," said Gutierrez.

Gutierrez, who is biologically a boy, admits to starting this fight at Hercules High School, but only after being bullied because she identifies as transgender.

"It comes to a point where you can't take it anymore," said Gutierrez.

Even her own adoptive parents admit it was hard for them to accept her gender identity.

"You have to do what is right for your son or for your daughter. You cannot really change who they are," said Fernando Poquiz, Gutierrez' father.

"I don't understand quite why the District Attorney's office would prosecute someone who's already been a victim of bullying. I think it's a further victimization of somebody who's been a target of homophobia and transphobia," said Kaylie Simon, a public defender.

"I cannot discuss anything about any juvenile matter without a court order," said Contra Costa County Assistant District Attorney Dan Cabral.

Now Gutierrez is starting a petition calling for the district attorney to drop the case against her.